The Global Refugee Wave and Migrant Crisis

Yes, because throwing the hot potatoes into a different direction is such a good way to fix this issue.

Not to mention that Turkey will totally listen to NATO and refrain from putting a foot in Syria and escalating their thing with Russia...

It's a good way to force Turkey to actually negotiate a deal with the EU, plus the Turks actually bare some responsibility for the Syria situation, unlike the Greeks. On top of that if Turkey has to deal with refugees itself it might be less willing to invade Syria and create even more.

Apparantly Merkel has secured Ankara's agreement on this issue. We don't know if we can really depend on Turkey, but it is worth a try.

And honestly, I don't see a problem with this deal as long as the EU follows through and relocates a number of refugees from Turkey every year. it might also save many lifes since dozens of refugees have drowned this year trying to enter Greece.

edited 14th Feb '16 3:34:37 PM by Zarastro

The Soldiers of Odin are now in Norway. Link is in Norwegian.

Well, more or less confirms the Nordic link.

Where do you read that? I read that not only is Turkey pretty much against this agreement, the other EU states feel (again) bullied over the notion of taking refugees.

I think we have to accept that the European solution has failed thanks to those who would rather build walls (the one in Hungary btw worked exactly until the neighbouring countries followed suit and closed the routes over their borders, too, now they have people breaking through again).

And now the CDU is talking about not insisting on fixed wages for refugees. Those idiots! If there is any idea which will make the situation in Germany explode it is this one. It feeds directly in the theories of the far right.

Yeah the drowning excuse is not an excuse considering they are still going to try and get into the sea again. There's a whole multitude of reasons of why "Sending them back to Turkey" is pretty much a tragically sad way to think that is a solution to the problem.

Fixed wages are a silly idea. If you're going to take them, then do it properly.

Sorry, I meant minimum wages. They were just introduced in Germany, despite all the nay-sayers from the CDU (They were a pet-project of the SPD) they did NOT cause massive job losses (though I guess partly because there are still too many exceptions to it), nor did the costs for everything rise that much. Now suggesting that refugees can get less money is a slap in the face - especially since the minimum wage is actually still very low.

I think that Germany should stop taking people who apply asylum in Germany (because they obviously do come from a border country), meaning no financial support for anyone who does not take the "proper channels". (With proper channels I mean a system which allows refugees to apply for asylum directly from the Turkey and other countries with UN-camps). A lot of the left are currently angry because the government wants to stop the practice that the family of minors who got asylum are allowed to follow, but I think it was exactly the right step. I understand that sometimes families are desperate, but the truth is that most of those families send their minors on the dangerous route so that they can secure asylum for their families. I think it is irresponsible behaviour which shouldn't be rewarded.

That is the whole problem. Currently irresponsible behaviour gets rewarded. We NEED to break the circle, and the only way I see is changing the system at its very basis by ensuring, that responsible behaviour might lead to asylum while taking the boats will automatically ban you from getting it in the core countries of the EU.

It would also solve another problem: If the refugees are vetted and accepted before they even enter Germany, they can get the allowance to work immediately, instead of being forced to spend months in legal limbo.

edited 15th Feb '16 9:25:42 AM by Swanpride

x4

The article I posted quoted Deutsche Welle: "Germany’s defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, had already indicated she favoured a far more robust approach and had secured Ankara’s permission to send some refugees back to Turkey, the Deutsche Welle newspaper reported."

Also the Visgrad group are trying to convince Macedonia to close its' borders to Greece.

http://www.dw.com/en/visegrad-group-opposes-germanys-refugee-policy/a-19048816

I thought they already had.

For certain kinds of refugees yes. closing the borders isn't the right approach, though. They will only pick a different route, most likely over Russia.

Too bad Orban doesn't understand this (or he does and just ignores this).

Bulgaria to close all external EU borders, PM announces

Well, let's put it this way: I am not too opposed to the notion of checking if someone has a right for asylum before he walks all through Europe. But I also think that this is only half of a solution. I think we do need a legal way for refugees to get their chance in Europe. Something between asylum and immigration.

The deputy leader of Pegida wants refugees to be shot and the burqa banned. It seems harder and harder to make a non-morbid joke regarding the effluent spewed by the far right in Europe and the US as time passes.

Little behind the news. That is what two leaders of the Af D said two weeks ago (in fact, one said yes, it means we should shoot woman and children and then corrected herself that she never said that children should be targeted)...the funny part was how the Af D tried to pretend they didn't mean it that way. Not so funny is that some people actual agree with the notion. The good thing about it is that stuff like this might actually damage the party with the electorate which is more right-middle than straight right.

Gah. Are these folks Neo-Nazis or what? That's what I would expect to happen in these circles.

There is a significant overlap, yes.

They're calling themselves "concerned citizens" these days, if I remember correctly. But yeah, same difference.

edited 16th Feb '16 9:54:34 AM by DrunkenNordmann

The Af D was originally founded by what I would call conservatives with right-wing leaning. Those were people from the upper middle-class, who were rightly annoyed by the way the government has put more and more financial pressure on them, and who found their first followers between those who are fearful that on the day when they are too old to work, they won't get the security they were promised even though they paid their whole life into the system. It was also pseudo-liberal. Meaning "no, we have no problems with homosexuals, but we don't want to treat their marriages under the same tax rules because those exist to encourage the building of families". This said, it was more CSU right than NPD right.

Than the party nearly managed to jump into the government during the last election and as a result it get more and more attention. And then it happened what a lot of people had predicted would happen: The party drew in the more questionable elements. Most of the original founders have left the party by now, one of them apologizing that he ever started it and calling it "NPD light". It is, in a way, the right wing party for the middle-class, while usually the right wing was addressing more the underbelly of society.

First the party was loosing steam fast the more it leaned towards the right, but since the refugee crisis people are looking for alternatives. I can't even blame them, the CDU and SPD have mismanaged the whole matter horrible so far (less Merkel, the in-party fighting is the problem, it looks directionless), and all the other parties left in the government are even further to the left when people actually want a more strict approach to the matter. It's not that they don't want to take refugees, but they are angry that so many people are coming even though they have zero right to get asylum.

It might be different if the FDP were still in the government. Than it might be able to sway people into their direction with their ideas. But they were voted out for a reason and haven't managed to show that they changed enough. (Again, too much in-fighting).

Good summary, although you probably meant to say "nearly jumped into parliament".

The 59th world press photo annual contest has announced the winners

Australian Warren Richardson's picture dealing with the refugee crisis in the serbian hungarian border took the first place.

The picture, viewed here is where a man passes a baby through the fence at the Hungarian-Serbian border in Röszke, Hungary, 28 August 2015. Comes with a story too.

edited 18th Feb '16 10:36:54 AM by Aszur

Austrian cap frustrates EU efforts to tackle migrant crisis

Time will be running out...for the EU?

edited 18th Feb '16 10:58:58 AM by Greenmantle

Three to four more far(ish)-right governments should pop up first.Then horrible things happen,and boom!Good old Europe will be back.